


Leisure Time

by Sarah1281



Series: 31 Days of Newmann [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarah1281/pseuds/Sarah1281
Summary: After unexpectedly landing some time off, Newt realizes that he has no idea what to do with himself. Maybe Hermann can help.
Relationships: Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Series: 31 Days of Newmann [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726903
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Leisure Time

“I,” Newt declared with a dramatic sweeping of his arms, “have never felt so pathetic in my life. And, trust me, that is truly saying a lot.” 

“It never crossed my mind to argue,” Hermann said mildly. He rolled his chair a little further away from Newton in case more theatrics were incoming. 

Newt stuck out his tongue. “Dick.” 

“Is this the reaction I am to expect when I agree with you?” Hermann asked. “I must say, it does not provide much incentive for me to do so in the future.” 

“Your horrifying lack of imagination and weird obsession with the rules do not provide much incentive for you to agree with me,” Newt countered. 

“It is not an ‘obsession’ with the rules, Newton. It is simply a perfectly normal – and essential to the functioning of society, mind you – recognition that rules are in place for a reason and while occasionally choosing to break them depending on the circumstance is acceptable, ‘I’m going to do what I think is right and not even be aware of what the rules are’ is not a valid life choice.” 

“You’re not a valid life choice,” Newt said. He flopped down on the sofa and turned so he was still looking at Hermann. “Besides, I’m an anarchist.” 

Hermann closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten. “I simply do not have the energy to deal with that today. Why don’t you tell me why you feel incredibly pathetic, instead?” 

Newt crossed his arms and scowled. “Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” 

“I just said that I would,” Hermann replied. “And so would you, it seems, as you brought it up. Or you could just not tell me whatever it is you’re about to tell me. That works for me, too.” 

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Newt that it wasn’t often anything he did would end up making him happy one way or another but then he realized Newt would probably take it as some sort of challenge and pull a ridiculous third option out of thin air simply to spite Hermann. 

“Fine, I will graciously tell you what I’m thinking about,” Newt said grandly. “There is literally nothing for either of us to do right now. Literally nothing. Like nothing nothing. Even all the stupid busywork or ‘I’ll get to it when I have time’ stuff has been done.”

“And…being caught up on your work makes you feel pathetic?” Hermann asked. “Newton, this could explain so much about you…” 

Newt rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no. I’m saying since there’s not another attack for two weeks and everything that can be done has been done…we have…dare I say it…leisure time.” 

“Leisure time,” Hermann echoed. The very idea seemed odd. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized Newt was right. There were really only so many times files could be reorganized and his half of the lab scrubbed down. “Imagine that.” 

“And that’s my _problem_ ,” Newt said, throwing his head back in faux-despair. 

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me again,” Hermann said. “Why is having free time a bad thing?” 

“Because it just occurred to me that I have literally no idea how to spend my free time,” Newt said. “And there is truly nothing sadder than that.” 

“I can think of a lot of things more pathetic than that,” Hermann said flatly. “And what do you mean you have no idea how to spend your free time? You’re always complaining about how tired you, right? And you never go to sleep but then neither do I because there’s always so much to do. Now’s a good time to catch up on that.” 

“Way ahead of you, my man,” Newt said. “I slept for twenty-six solid hours earlier. I couldn’t sleep any more now without some serious drugs.” 

That would explain where Newton had been yesterday. He had wondered but reasoned if anything was really wrong Newt would have contacted him. Or at least medical would have. 

“And, anyway, what kind of loser does _nothing_ but sleep when they’ve got this much time off? It’s not like sleeping a whole day and back to work. I fully support that! Get all the sleep while you can! But two weeks is really too much if you don’t have, like, a medical condition. And my mental health is in a good place right now so no worries there.” 

“Surely you can think of something to do,” Hermann insisted. 

“And I’m telling you, dude, that I can’t.” 

“What about all those films you love?” 

“I know literally every line in all of them,” Newt said. “I’ve started reciting them along with the actors. I kind of need a break from those.” 

“What about those games you like to play?” Hermann asked. 

Newt shook his head. “Anything that would really pique my interest would take me way longer than two weeks to finish with it. And you know how I get when I get really into something and then have to stop because, say, there’s another kaiju attack and everyone’s dying and I’ve got to study it.” 

“Well not in those exact circumstances, but yes,” Hermann agreed. “And you don’t sleep very much when you’re in the middle of exhausting some new game which rather defeats the point of leisure activity. What did Marshall Pentecost say when you asked him about this? I assume you did?” 

Now that he was saying it aloud, Hermann realized that actually there was a very good likelihood that Newton had done nothing of the sort. 

But Newt merely shook his head in what seemed to be disappointment. “Of course I did! Or at least I did before coming in here to ask you about it because, please. I _have_ met you before.” 

“So what did he say?” 

“He doesn’t care what we do as long as we’re ready when there is more work to be done,” Newt said. “He said he trusts us to know what we do and do not have to do. I’d be flattered except that just means that he’s smart enough to know that he doesn’t really understand what we do.”

“No one does,” Hermann said. “Not since we became the last two.” 

“Yeah…” Newt said, looking distant for a second. He visibly shook himself. “But never mind that! I’m out of ideas.” 

Hermann stared at him. “You’re never out of ideas.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you,” Newt grumbled. “Besides, I do things like read or do sudoku while I’m waiting for experiments to be done sometimes or avoiding paperwork so it’s not like I’ve got this backlog of all these fun things I can turn to in this trying time.” 

“I guess I can see why not knowing what to do with yourself for a few weeks could make you feel pathetic,” Hermann said slowly. 

Newt nodded so hard Hermann vaguely thought his head might fall off. “Like this has never happened to me before! Before I joined the PPDC there was always something to do! There’s always cool stuff to do in Boston and if I wanted to do some extra research everyone was all over that! But now we can’t really take the time to look into different stuff and I definitely can’t do a little two week long research project. That is no way to be thorough! And even just starting something and coming back to it later…when would that later even be? I hate leaving things half finished.” 

“Except paperwork,” Hermann couldn’t help but point out. 

“I mean, like, _real_ stuff, Hermann. Not bureaucratic nonsense,” Newt said dismissively. 

“I am not having this argument with you again,” Hermann said firmly. 

Newt shrugged. “Your loss. It’d have been something to do, at least.” 

“So why come to me?” 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Newt asked. “I’m hoping that you can help me come up with something.” 

Hermann barked out a laugh. 

“What?” Newt asked, frowning. “Are you making fun of me? I feel like you’re making fun of me.” 

“No, I just…what makes you think I’m any better at this than you are?” 

“That is true,” Newt said, tapping his chin with his index finger. “You are kind of a hopeless doofus. And other than math I’m probably better than you at pretty much everything. But I’m kind of desperate here. So what have you got?” 

“You are terrible at asking for help,” Hermann said frankly. “You insulted me twice.” 

Newt looked surprised. “I did?”

“Nice to know that’s so instinctual,” Hermann said. 

“And, anyway, I know I suck at asking for help but I still think I’m better at it then you and that’s really all that matters.” 

He might actually have a point in that Hermann was less likely to actually ask but if he did he certainly would do so more skillfully. So he chose to let it go. 

“I only just found out that we had leisure time,” he said instead. “I haven’t exactly had very much time to think of anything.” 

“I’ll wait,” Newt said placidly. 

“I’m not inviting you to come with me wherever I’m going.” 

“I mean, if you really need to prove to yourself I’m not a vampire then that’s your business,” Newt said. “I want you to feel safe in your working environment.” 

“I have been meaning to explore the city some more,” Hermann said, feeling a little defeated but not nearly as much as he would have expected. “We don’t get a chance to get out much outside of necessities.” 

“Sounds perfect,” Newt said, grinning brightly and standing up. 

Hermann’s breath caught in his throat and he tried to look away but his traitorous eyes refused to do so. 

“I’ll buy you dinner or something,” Newt said obliviously, bounding over to Hermann. His smile dimmed a little as his eyes grew concerned. “You alright there, buddy?” 

Hermann forcibly shook himself. He was being ridiculous. “Yes, uh, that sounds lovely.”


End file.
